It’s no secret that Republicans are assholes but there’s something particularly sick about traveling all the way to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland to call for more violence against Muslims:

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., recorded a five-minute video in which he said the killings show why “homeland security must be squared away” and an “invincible” military is needed in the United States to protect against terror and horror. Louisiana news outlet NOLA.com posted the video online Monday.

“The United States is more accessible to terror like this, horror like this. It’s hard to walk away from gas chambers and ovens without a very sober feeling of commitment, unwavering commitment, to make damn sure that the United States of America is protected from the evils of the world,” Higgins says at the end of the video, which was recorded as he toured the camp.

“Terror and horror.” Whoever could he be referring to? The right wing terrorists that have killed more Americans since 9/11 than every other kind of extremist combined? Nah. He’s talking about Muslims and we all know it. That by itself is just tacky. Especially since part of the video was recorded inside one of the gas chambers used to kill 1 million people. But taken in the context of Higgins’ other comments about Islam, it takes on a much more sinister tone.

After the London attack several weeks ago, Higgins took to Facebook to post what sounded very much like a call to genocide:

“The free world … all of Christendom … is at war with Islamic horror,” Higgins wrote. “Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals. Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter. Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identify them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.”

Afterwards, Higgins played the usual “you’re deliberately misunderstanding me” card but his “Christendom is at war” rhetoric says otherwise. Your average Republican voter is flatly incapable of separating ordinary Muslims from terrorists and Higgins surely knows it. Calling for the Western world to “Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all” will not motivate his followers to be vigilant for terrorists, it will send them into a blind rage at anyone wearing a hijab or looking vaguely Arabic. And, seriously, are we supposed to deny terrorists entry or kill them?

Unsurprisingly, Higgins and the right will not see any resemblance whatsoever between how the Nazis demonized Jews and how the right demonizes Muslims. They will be obvious to the disgusting use of Auschwitz as propaganda to whip up more rage against an entire religious group and they’ll go right on spreading fear and hate.

One wonders if Higgins was in Poland to reflect upon the horror of genocide or if he was there to takes notes.

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